Created in Birmingham

I’m disappointed I missed a talk by Birmingham Opera Company‘s Graham Vick at the Barber Institute yesterday lunchtime. I need to keep a closer eye on what happens over there (and maybe, y’know, get round to visiting at some point).

Anyway, Ian from 7 Inch Cinema went along and has blogged his notes. Lots of good things there, including:

The arts in the UK are blighted with fearfulness, conservatism, reactionary ordinariness. Our job is to build a more exciting, bolder future than the past has been. There is no such thing as tradition. The earth never stops moving. Stasis is a delusion. Be open to changeability.

Meanwhile, BOC are a currently rehearsing a new mini-production of Stephen Oliver’s ‘A Man of Feeling’.

It’d be pointless me adding to the mounting pile of gushing reviews this performance is receiving, so I’m going to float an idea instead (which should give you an inkling of what I thought of it).

Graham Vick is the Artistic Director of Birmingham Opera Company. Year-round he works with the world’s major operas and returns to Birmingham to let his imagination run riot. If you’re lucky enough to see one of his BOC productions he’ll be the guy with the look of impish enthusiasm ushering the audience around and mouthing the words.

Here are his notes from Othello’s programme:

After the first night thousands hijacked Verdi’s carriage to parade him through the streets of Milan in triumph

I think Birmingham owes Graham Vick the same treatment.

Othello is deservedly sold out. However, I’ve heard a rumour that the BBC will be filming the show for broadcast, so fingers crossed on that.

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• Isaac – a man of many talents who redefined the word legend
  Roger Shannon pays tribute to the late Isaac Hayes in an article most remarkable for the idea of a band consisting of Isaac Hayes, Huggy Bear and Taurean Blacque with Lovejoy as their manager. Oh, scrap that – I just got to the bit where Roger auctioned Hayes’ boxer shorts…
• Birmingham pubs Google Map
  Tom Scotney’s putting together a map of Birmingham pubs. Check it out and maybe give him a hand – it only takes a sec to add your local/fave
• Animation Forum WM research report
  “The Animation Forum West Midlands’ research report is now online for all to see. The report looks at the region’s ever-growing animation sector, and the role Animation Forum WM has played, and has to play in the process”
• Interview with Birmingham Opera Company’s Graham Vick
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• Home of the Autumn Store Blog – How to Put Bands on and Not Lose Loads of Money
  “The next in my occasional series about how to put on a gig”
• Death Cassettes
  A new cassette (not record) label – “Limited to 100 copies.. On One of Four Coloured Cassettes, Hand made Artwork and Covers, And free digital downloads of the tracks tooooo for yr ipodz” (Spotted by Dunc at Autumn Store)
• Finally, if you’ve not had a chuckle at the council yet…
  They went and used a picture of Birmingham, Alabama’s skyline on a leaflet.  They seem to have used the first pic that came up when they searched ‘Birmingham skyline’ with Google – not that they were prepared to admit that at first, which is probably why every man and their blog has written about this now.  Ah well.